


Artist Spotlight Interview:  Florence Delarosa

by awessasims



Category: The Sims (Video Games), The Sims 2 (Video Games)
Genre: Bluewater Village, Florence Delarosa - Freeform, The Sims, The Sims 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 11:28:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16575587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awessasims/pseuds/awessasims
Summary: Elise Monif interviews the illustrious artiste Florence Delarosa.





	Artist Spotlight Interview:  Florence Delarosa

[](https://imgur.com/elJSFny)

_“I will never make major motion pictures because, happily, I am a minor person.”  
—Florence Delarosa_

SimsTribune—Elise Monif, December 2017.

[](https://imgur.com/F5C9tBE)

This is the unassuming home of a creative genius; a woman who has taken on various art forms and conquered all that she dared to create within: photography, film, music videos—the common thread being her eyes that see the entire world as a canvas, and by extension, her expertise with the camera lens, which helps to bring her visions blazing to life.

She has worked un-credited with famous actors in lavish big-budget productions as a guest director; on music videos with some of the most avant garde artists in Simtropolis; with little-known actors struggling to cut their teeth and get their messages across in independent films; and is currently enjoying glowing reviews of her own photographic exhibit at the Bluewater Village Museum of Contemporary Art entitled “The Lovers”. And so you would think that her first love is her camera. And you would be wrong.

[](https://imgur.com/fPKkzWz)

[](https://imgur.com/xSYokvu)

_Director Florence Delarosa and cast on the set of the 2017 film "The Brothers Mahrz"_

[](https://imgur.com/hDlTBCT)

_"Kohlyders", from the BVMOCA 2018 exhibit 'The Lovers"_

Florence Delarosa came to Bluewater Village just over thirty years ago with her parents, who died not long after they established their shop, Delarosa's Flowers. Florence took it over and the business continued to flourish, enough so that she was able to pass on her nine to five attentions to an assistant and devote her full time to her creative self—and her love affair with her camera.

[](https://imgur.com/L5G4ZsC)

This is her shop and her home: modest, unfettered, inviting—and her anchor.

Interestingly enough, Ms. Delarosa was on a brief hiatus from her cinematic work and her exhibit was enjoying its third smash month; her assistant had taken ill and she was happily back at her work space, creating magic with God's good Earth and floral delights, and so was unable to meet me for a daytime interview.

[](https://imgur.com/ErrfGY6)

I arrived at her home not knowing what to expect; upon our first glimpse of each other I groaned inwardly—we have here, a Diva, certainly, I thought. Happily, I was wrong... Ms. Delarosa had just had a long day and the moment was one of simple and honest exhaustion. 

And I found her to be a curious mix, indeed: long, dark, curly hair where the grey has been allowed to go untreated and as it desires; a sweet, innocent smiling face of indiscriminate age; a lovely, if bottom-heavy frame housed in cropped knit purple pullover sweater and darker purple pleated mini skirt, which would certainly be considered inappropriate and less-likely for most women of that certain age to pull off, but not so at all for her. I had taken note of one framed photograph, just near the cash register, of her late parents and Ms. Delarosa in her younger years, where she was prim and conservative in a suit jacket and chino slacks, her hair cut in a short, neat, boring bob. What had caused such an evolution? From obviously staid and conventional to outrageously progressive? I was chomping at the bit to ask her. She walked me further in and suddenly her lovely trademark tiara of cornflowers, iris blooms and blue delphiniums made all of the sense in the world—her shop, from whence they were cultivated, was a wonder. 

[](https://imgur.com/qRte78F)

Onward we went into her living room: sparse, homey—almost old-fashioned, but comfortingly so. And at the upright piano in a far west corner was her good friend, Gilbert Jacquet, tickling the ivories and playing a tune worthy of heavy rotation on a smooth jazz radio station.

[](https://imgur.com/Ci07qbd)

Ms. Delarosa sat me down on her Moroccan sofa and made me feel at home as Mr. Jacquet came to join us, but only after a trip to the kitchen for a tray of tall glasses of fresh-squeezed lemonade. After some pleasantries and our emptied glasses my interview began in earnest.

[](https://imgur.com/UsUtS99)

Elise Monif: Thank you for allowing me into your home and for this interview, Ms. Delarosa.

[](https://imgur.com/Lmmb6N0)

Florence Delarosa: My pleasure and welcome, again. And please call me Florence. Let me introduce you formally to my very good friend and sometime muse, Gilbert Jacquet.

[](https://imgur.com/dpdds4p)

EM: Hello, Mr. Jacquet. Your piano playing was sublime—are you a professional?

Gilbert Jacquet: Thank you—no, I just play for my own pleasure—and Flora's.

EM: Flora?

[](https://imgur.com/M6Vyy0D)

FD: My parents nickname for me. Gilbert and I have known each other since I came to Bluewater Village over thirty years ago.

EM: Speaking of thirty years, you don't look a day over twenty-nine. Is the grey premature? Whatever is going on, you are certainly wearing it!

[](https://imgur.com/QmGZ7M6)

FD: Thank you for the compliment! Yes, I am now half a century old. But am I wearing the grey or is it wearing me? However one looks at it I feel that every grey strand is a miracle and a testament to a life that has been lived, if only for a pin prick in time. 

[](https://imgur.com/dOHu90h)

EM: Wow...that's a wonderful way to look at it. Just like your vision—your work displays all of the wonders that life can bring, it's all quite inspirational.

[](https://imgur.com/tsN4sw2)

FD: Yes, I think that all of life is inspirational. Life...death...regeneration, rebirth—the seasons; green grass, flowers—adaptation to change. But always, what is old is new again and rebirth is the promise that death is not the end and is not a thing to be feared. I like to think that my work is the celebration of that promise.

[](https://imgur.com/CTu1LKB)

EM: I love your work, but I'm going to play Devil's Advocate for a moment: some critics call a fair portion of your work pornography, plain and simple.

[](https://imgur.com/oAGLyz6)

FD: And they are certainly within their rights to call it that, if they like. But I'll take my harmless “pornography” that doesn't hurt anyone and whose subjects are always legal, consenting adults, and challenge my critics take a long, hard, real look at the film industry and tell me if the same claim can be made, because it truly is amazing what so-called mainstream films pass as PG-13 these days.

[](https://imgur.com/9F0mxxs)

I believe that all actors and industry professionals should be guaranteed a safe work environment. Further, I believe, in this day and age, the status quo being what it remains, that children have no place in the industry, especially so if they cannot work in an abuse-free environment. I realize that children are a part of life, but again, really, if you can't tell a story, make a movie, where these very real children are safe from predators, well then I think the stories should cease to include them until that's a reality, as well. Stepping off of my soap box now. 

EM: You're referring to the recent allegations against movie mogul Jherk Azhol, of course...

[](https://imgur.com/q8hH8Oc)

FD: Yes. It's high time that he and his ilk should be put down for good. I also applaud A. Lhewnatique and his son, A Lhewnatique Jr. for putting their money where their mouths are by helping with legal defense funds of victims who have been coming forward. We all have to do our part to end this heinous debauchery. It is the absolute worst aspect of filmmaking and it really shouldn't be a thing in 2017, or going forward. 

[](https://imgur.com/MHoxJq6)

EM: I totally agree. Wow, it's morning, already. I really didn't mean to take up your whole night!

[](https://imgur.com/fctvz90)

FD: Not at all! Before you go I'd like for you to come and see what keeps me centered, and helps me make peace with myself and the world a little bit more each day...

Ms. Delarosa took me back to her beautiful shop and made a special bouquet of tulips for me; as lovely as the day; as breathtaking as all of her creative gifts bestowed upon the world thus far, and with the promise of more to come. And then Ms. Delarosa surprised this reporter even further as she informed me that I had inspired an idea for a new exhibit...

[](https://imgur.com/qrTWxs3)

[](https://imgur.com/SoUEiWS)

[](https://imgur.com/NUOsFVl)

After a sublime Bloody Mary to calm my nerves, a hair makeover and a wardrobe change, Ms. Delarosa took me back to her modest studio to take the first shot in her upcoming series that she will call "The Goddesses".

[](https://imgur.com/Q9SpIBi)

[](https://imgur.com/g0TgEGM)

[](https://imgur.com/sMpyepC)

See Florence Delarosa's “The Lovers” exhibit at Bluewater Village Museum of Contemporary Art daily, between 8 am and 6 pm now through March 2018.


End file.
